This is our National Day where we commemorate and remember the Anzacs and the landing at Gallipoli. We honour the men who fought and the women who supported the operation.
This day of remembrance and commemoration has been expanded to remember all those men and women who have served this nation in times of conflict, in particular those that died on active service or were wounded in the defence of the Nation and its interests.
The Gallipoli campaign was heroic but costly. Australian casualties numbered 26,111 with 8,141 dying. Nine Victoria Crosses and many other awards were awarded to the men during that terrible eight months they endured.
While a failure, Gallipoli became etched in our minds, our hearts and in the soul of the nation. It became a defining moment in the history of the new Nations of Australia and New Zealand. It gave us a new identity, a sense of what we were about and what we would become.
These service men and women left us legacy to uphold, out of times of peril came many attributes such as:
- Courage in the face of death;
- Mate ship;
- Endurance;
- Integrity and honour;
- Determination despite the odds;
- Self-Sacrifice;
- Compassion, and;
- Love of family and of country.
Our servicemen and women who have served this Nation in many conflicts since WW1 have embraced the Anzac spirit and attributes and on their return home help build this Nation.
Anzac Day is a time of formal and traditional aspects of remembering and respecting those servicemen and women who came before us. This is followed by camaraderie. Sharing food, conversation, catching up with friends and comrades, remembering the happy times, stories and the larrikinism of family and mates, sometimes the odd war story. Of course, remembering those who don’t share the table with us today. We remember Tom Yates our dear comrade who will not be at our table today.
Maxwell J. Poole, sub-Branch Vice President. 25th of April 2024
Thomas James Yates, (5-4-1946 to 19-4-2024)
Military Service :28-9-1966 to 3-10-1978 1 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. (Vietnam- 18-3-1968 to 27-8-1968) Duty Done, R.I.P.